Ken Scott - Devo - Duty Now For The Future

What sounds sterile? Devo's more synth-oriented albums?

 

"Be Stiff" was recorded with Eno and is available on "Pioneers Who Got Scalped." The other three were on "Hardcore Devo Vol. 1," which is indeed out of print.

 

True. It's late and I'm tired. What can I say?

 

No, your little analysis of the critics vs. Devo.

 

The resources (technology wise) to make an album like New Traditionalists flat out did not exist in 1978. It has nothing to do with money.

As far as the Punk thing. Here in Los Angeles Devo was introduced to the airwaves by Rodney on the ROQ. Since Rodney mostly played hard-edged stuff, much of it punk, for about a year many classified Devo as punk. There was no new wave quite yet.

 

Well...there's really nothing sterile or little about it.

From Bam magazine, October 6th, 1978:

Critics of the later albums (practically anything after Q&A) would be a lot more honest if they just said they didn't care for synthesizers and synthpop.

But, you know, "synths BAD!" is generally accepted to be the "correct" philosophy when it comes to music.

Kraftwerk would certainly disagree with you there. Ever hear "The Man-Machine," which came out the same year?

No, it's not the same technology, but it's absolutely a full-fledged synthpop album. Giorgio Moroder and other acts were doing similar electronic work in this time period.

I've run into him a few times at Canter's.

Devo does tend to get lumped in with the punk movement, but they were more anti-punk. IIRC, by 1978, new wave as a term had already been around for a while in the UK.

 

It's getting a little of topic, BUT, if you want raw Booji Boy sounding recordings you have to get Devo - Recombo DNA( http://www.rhinohandmade.com/browse/ProductLink.lasso?Number=7718.)

Plus, the Total Devo devo sounds much less sterile. And Love Is Stronger Than Dirt is an awesome song.

Oh, and Hardcore Devo volumes 1 &2.

And Live: The Mongoloid years.

And then check the band sanctioned archive Booji Boy's Basement http://www.boojiboysbasement.com/ for unreleased (and band approved) goodies.

 

Oops, I forgot..."new wave" had already been around for a while in the U.S., thanks to Seymour Stein.

 

So then a year later you have this;
A guitar can only do what a guitar does. It's like only one tiny
piece of a synthesizer. On this album (Duty now)we did much more with
the guitars, too. Sometimes you don't know that they're guitars.
- Gerald V. Casale, BAM Magazine, 5/18/79

The reason I use this quote is to clue you in to the world Devo came about in. They latched on to an explosion of music technology that was marching faster than most regular musicians could deal with. Largely the "synth is bad" myth was perpetuated buy session musicians who were losing work because of the ever-increasing ability of a keyboard synth replicate traditional orchestra sounds. Devo had no more of an idea what was going to happen than anyone else who read Keyboard Player magazine. They had to trash the likes of the Jimmy Page guitar god because that was a safe rebellion at the time that the average teen could grasp thus setting themselves apart from the pack. They were constantly espousing their devolution rhetoric to keep the press microphone directed toward them. Now something much less safe at that time was the Eno tape loop/ambient stuff. That went completely unreferenced by radio airplay cause it was just too out-there.

I really have to disagree with you about creating New Trad. in any time pre 1980. NOTHING in the late 70's sounded as slick/polished as that. One basic block to creating a sound like that is that pre 1980 there is no Linn Drum machine yet. I could go on but if you want to know more you will have to read back issues of keyboard Magazine. Sure there was heavy synth stuff in the late 70's as well as the 80's but the devil is in the details. It’s like saying Telstar could have been done earlier, but if that organ sound was not there as big and fat as was it just would not be quite the same.

 

Hmm... I tried it with headphones, and I still can't hear anything particularly strange with that track.

In any case; even if there is something there, since it is not obvious enough for me to be able to pinpoint the problem through neither loudspeakers nor headphones, I would say that it must be fairly insignificant for most people - and certainly not something worth avoiding an entire CD for (especially since that CD contains 2 full albums, and sounds great in almost every other way). Don't you agree?

Cool! Please do! Even if I do not necessarily agree with his (or any other artist's) opinions of their own work, it can still be interesting - not to mention entertaining - to read/hear it.

 

On the early two records, they used Minimoog and an Electrocomp (500 model, I think). You see these live. On the first album (with Eno) they use Patrick Gleeson's large Emu modular synth. Mark thinks the Electrocomp was the one that makes the amazing shrieks on "Smart Patrol/Mr DNA"... A special Minimoog with two Mini's tied together (a 6 oscillator beast) was used to do the bass line of "Whip It".

The same synth technology was used since the late 60s to make "nice" and powerful sounds ala Emerson and Wakeman. But Mark Mothersbaugh told me they hated all that, and liked to use pedals and effects to make synths and guitars sound cheap and bad. DEVO were the first band I can find to WANT their sounds to be cheap and weird. Kind of a "punk" technology approach: use technology to make things sound LESS technological and more organic. This may also define the argument you're having here - when the synths and drum sounds got very CLEAN.

 

I really don't need any "clueing in." I am quite well versed in (nay, obsessed with) the goings on of the new wave era. Especially Devo.

You may perceive it as rhetoric. I perceive it as an overarching philosophy.

No, not the same, but you made it sound as if a tightly constructed synthpop/electronic record was unheard of in the late '70s. That's simply untrue. (See Kraftwerk, Sparks, Human League, etc.) Guess I was trying to "clue you in."

Anyhow, I feel as if I've unintentionally veered this thread off on a tangent. This discussion has become relentlessly circular, and I sense both a needless condescension and ageism in many of your posts to me. I respectfully bow out of this debate...and this thread.

 

"Q: What does Devo think of the Virgin Records compilations? - Anonymous

A: (Courtesy of a Devotee) Once upon a time, in the land of Virgin (where everybody was innocent), there lived a bargin price low-quality double-album Devo CD named Duty Now/Nutra. He was very lonely and his only friend was another bargin price low-quality double-album Devo CD named Oh No/Freedom. They shared many laughs together and hung out as often as possible, wondering what it was like to be an expensive, out-of-print high-quality Infinite Zero CD or even a regular-priced, easy-to-find normal-quality Warner Brothers CD. One morning, Duty Now/Nutra went to visit Oh No/Freedom as always, but found a horrifying sight. Oh No/Freedom had been shattered into little tiny pieces! Beside one of the shards, was a note written in blood that said "You're next!". Duty Now/Nutra wondered what this phrase meant as he buried the remains of Oh No/Freedom, choking back tears the whole time. That night, as Duty Now/Nutra was walking home, he heard a noise behind him. He turned around and saw a huge long shadow looming over him. Duty Now/Nutra screamed a girly "Good gawd!" and turned to run, but tripped over his own klutzy feet. As he struggled to his feet, the shadow engulfed the poor hapless CD. He looked up and gasped in fright! It was a 20-foot tall hammer!! Duty Now/Nutra screamed at the top of his lungs, but nobody could hear him. "Silence!", the hammer boomed. "I am Mr. Hammer! I was sent here on a mission! A mission to destroy you!! You're giving DEVO a very bad image, and frustrating many spuds and spuddesses out there! Your sound quality sucks!" Duty Now/Nutra was never more scared in his life. "Please, don't hurt me! Go into BMI Land and kill Greatest instead!!". "It's already been taken care of!", Mr. Hammer boomed. "Now shut up and die like a man instead of a Booji boy!". Before Duty Now/Nutra could wimper out another word, Mr. Hammer's head crashed down on the poor helpless CD with full force, shattering him into a million pieces. Just for added measure, Mr. Hammer peed all over the broken shards, which was an incredible feat, considering hammers don't pee. The remains of Duty Now/Nutra were left in the Virgin Forest for weeks, until the wind blew them away, never to be seen again. THE END -- Nutra"

 

Yeah, that is a funny one! However, as far as I can tell, that answer does not come from Jerry Casale. It seems to be from someone handling their website.

This, more recent question from the same Q & A section of Club Devo gets a slightly different answer - and this time it is (allegedly) from Jerry himself:

"Q: Quick question, (unlike the rest of the message, sorry) when I had a copy of Duty Now on cassette many years ago, I always assumed the sound drop outs during a few songs, most noticeable in Strange Pursuits, was magnetic damage to my tape, but lo and behold, it exists on the CD version as well, what is the story with this? Is this something that could not be corrected in a remaster? (hint,hint). Love you guys..
-- Rob / Toronto, Canada

A: I don't remember the sound drop outs on Duty Now. Really? Weird. -- Gerald V. Casale, Devo Inc."

The whole thing (I shortened it a bit, to make it more reader friendly) can be read here:
http://www.clubdevo.com/mp/tellus_2004.html

Of course, that was back in 2004, so...

 

Funny. And I was actually thinking about getting the "Duty" 2fer as a result of this thread. I've changed my mind now!

 

I'm paraphrasing. I read in a couple of interviews how they wanted to create real down and dirty rock and roll using synthesizers rather than guitars. I don't remember the exact words they used. I also remember they had a conversation with William S. Boroughs that was published, where they said wild stuff about using sonic warfare on the audience. They said they wouldn't go so far as to kill the audience, because they were liberals. However, they might try for loss of bladder control! Of course they were having everybody on big-time with this BS, but it made for good reading. I believe this was published in Trouser Press magazine or maybe New York Rocker. I'll have to dig through my old issues in the basement and try to find it. This thing about wanting to make the nastiest, loudest, hardest rock record ever was an echo of similar statements made by Pete Townshend and Paul McCartney way back in the late 60s.

By the way, there is one comprehensive biography that I've seen: Are We Not Men? We Are Devo! by Jade Dellinger & David Giffels. This came out in 2003 by SAF Publishing. It's a UK company but they had distribution in the U.S. too so you should be able to find it.

 

I've read parts of the book and thought it was okay. The band doesn't endorse it, though.

"A: ...Other than a semi-accurate time line of events the DEVO book currently available was done without our permission or co-operation. It is full of lies, fantasy and mis-information. The official yellow suits will again become available in the near future. -- NUTRA, Devo Inc."

 

You just had to be there to really taste the flavor I guess.

 

The authors may have had an axe to grind. In certain spots, they get quite personal and critical of the weaknesses and failings of the members, moral and otherwise. If you can read past the judgementalism, it does have quite a bit of information about their career. I personally don't know how much of it is mis-information. "Lies and fantasies" is a pretty strong condemnation though, so I suppose one should read it with caution and not believe everything.

Keep in mind, too, that bands usually seem to want idealized publicity and glowing praise, along with propaganda that gets their own message and spin across.

 

Yeah. One thing that I thought was odd was that they quoted from the commentary on the Complete Truth About De-Evolution DVD.

 

It was Trouser Press, and the interviewer was William S. Burroughs. I recall that Jerry Casale's comments were so cynical that Burroughs was a bit taken aback, especially with the comments about making the audience poop and having somebody handing out free Kimbies with every ticket.

 

I recall thinking of that when Cartman finally got everyone to hit the Brown Note with the Yoko Ono & Kenny G Recorder Concert.

Here's a question; is there anything on the 'We're All Devo' videocassette that didn't make it to the 'Complete Truth' laserdisc? I vaguely recall there was one more segue skit with Larraine Newman that's missing (?)

And also; WHY, exactly, would Devo have needed to ask permission from the Hendrix estate to include the 'Experienced' clip on the DVD edition? Once you pay royalties to cover a song, why would anyone have to ask permission for each subsequent format release?

 

IIRC it wasn't a royalties issue, but a problem the Hendrix estate had with the "dead" Jimi character in the video.

 

correct - it had to do with the video, not the song

 

I can't imagine Burroughs being phased by that. It was cynical, though. Jerry's idea was not to kill because he wanted the audience to return for more shows and more abuse. It was all just talk, though. There were noise bands coming out at the time that really were into doling out pain.